Nearly 139 million Indians were suffering from high blood pressure (BP) at the end of 2008 — 14% of the global burden of uncontrolled hypertension. From 1980-2008, the number of Indians suffering from high BP rose by 87 million, while the percentage of population suffering from the ailment rose from 21% to 26%. The latest data of the "Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors" study, published in the British...

The government has a plan to reach welfare to the poor without wasting money. It wants to put hard cash in their hands instead of spending on welfare programmes. To begin with, it wants to end the public distribution system of food grain and give money directly to the people. Its logic: the new system of cash transfer will plug leakages and save an enormous amount of money. But is it...

The much publicised Unique Identification number may not be as infallible as it is touted to be. Though Aadhaar -- the implementation programme of the UID -- records both the biometric and iris scan data of the individual, it is solely dependent on biometrics for application. The government aims to have biometric authentication readers at ration shops to ensure that only eligible candidates get access to food subsidy and other...

The Orissa government has to give an assurance that not a single person is entitled to benefits under the Forest Rights Act, according to one of the conditions set by the Union environment ministry while giving provisional clearance to the Posco project today. The condition has been imposed following allegations that claims under the Forest Rights Act had not been settled. The act deals with dependants on forests for livelihood. The project,...

Deforestation, poachers, illicit liquor-brewers forcing them to migrate Large-scale deforestation and the disturbances caused by poachers and illicit liquor-brewers could be forcing king cobras to migrate from their natural habitat in bamboo-rich dense evergreen forests to villages nearby. A study conducted by the researchers of the Department of Zoology, University of Kerala, and the Reptile Study Group, Thiruvananthapuram, has revealed that the king cobra, the world's longest venomous snake, is under...